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Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory

Fear can be protective but can also become pathological. The Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory has provided breakthrough insights into the fear mechanisms of the brain—discoveries that raise hope for treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorder, and other persistent, debilitating conditions.

We study how innate fear and learned fear manifest and interact at the level of individual brain cells and circuits in animal models. Our clinical collaborations help translate our scientific discoveries into clinical practice.

The Formation and Persistence of Traumatic Memories

We provided one of the first mechanistic explanations of how long-term fear memory is encoded and retained. This work holds promise for new drug treatments for PTSD, either soon after the initial trauma or after a re-triggering of fear memory.

Treating Anxiety Through Regulating Gene Expression

Our researchers identified genes controlling production of proteins involved in innate and learned fear. This knowledge could potentially be used for new treatments for anxiety-related disorders in humans.